Saraki

Related News

Abubakar Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kwara State and a serving senator, is surprised at the reopened investigation of N11 billion Intercontinental Bank loan scandal that has trailed him for years, his media office has said.

His office, while reacting to his latest invitation to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police for questioning over the scandal, said the matter had been investigated twice and thrashed in the past.

“…We are once again surprise it is resurfacing,” his media office said. “??The attempt to link this baseless petition to Senator Saraki is purely a blackmail and character assassination.”

Mr. Saraki, will on Friday be a guest of crack detectives of the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police in Lagos, where he will answer questions relating to an N11 Billion financial scandal at the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc.

Lekan Alabi, former chief executive at Intercontinental Bank is already in detention over the same case.

Detectives are trying to understand how jumbo loans running over N11 Billion found its way into the subsidiaries of an oil marketing company, Joy Petroleum, owned by one of Saraki’s former aides, now deceased, Mattew Obahor.

Mr Saraki’s office admitted knowing about the petition against their principal submitted by Mr. Obahorto’s brother to the special anti-fraud unit of the police over the loan to Joy Petroleum.

“We want to categorically state that Senator Saraki is not and was never a shareholder of any Joy Petroleum company,” the statement said.

The detectives, according to our sources, also want Mr. Saraki to help them understand how choice properties in the up-scale markets of Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos connected to him were used as collaterals in the multiple loan schemes that were not repaid but had been substantially written off and the properties relieved of their collateral status.

Our source also believes the current governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatai Ahmed, will eventually be invited for questioning too since a lot of the money transfer was done under his watch as finance commissioner in the administration of Mr. Saraki.